Police force yet to get 2,500 bulletproof vests

More than three years after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, too, the police force is yet to get 2,500 bulletproof jackets, the order for which was placed last year.

More than three years after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, too, the police force is yet to get 2,500 bulletproof jackets, the order for which was placed last year.

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ATS chief Hemant Karkare was killed in the attack even while he was wearing a bulletproof vest. There were allegations that the vest was of inferior quality. Following this, then chief minister Ashok Chavan had ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Though the state government had tried to get the jackets in 2010, the vests did not meet the specifications given by the government in the testing stage. In a written reply to the state legislative council on Monday, home minister RR Patil accepted that the order placed with the union home ministry in 2011 has not yet been delivered to the state home department. The state government procures equipment such as bulletproof jackets through the central procurement process.

“The DG police had written to the union home ministry on September 12, 2011 placing an order for 2,500 bulletproof jackets. We have not received the jackets yet. But, we are following it up with them,” Patil stated in his written reply.

With private manufacturers failing to meet the technical requirements, tenders for jackets have not been filled. The union home ministry has asked the Indian Ordinance Factory to meet the requirements of the state government on a priority basis, said sources in the home department.